| Christie's is a world-famous auction house. It was founded in London, England on December 5, 1766 by James Christie. Christie's soon established a reputation as a leading auction house, and took advantage of London's new found status as the major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution. |  |
Close this window | |
| Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest and largest academic honor society, was founded on Dec. 5, 1776, by five students at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. It was the first society to have a Greek letter name. And in its early years it introduced the essential characteristics of such societies: an oath of secrecy (discarded in 1831), a badge, mottoes in Latin and Greek, a code of laws, and an elaborate initiation ritual. |  |
Close this window | |
| Of Dutch descent, he was born in 1782, the son of a tavernkeeper and farmer, in Kinderhook, New York. As a young lawyer he became involved in New York politics. As leader of the "Albany Regency," an effective New York political organization, he shrewdly dispensed public offices and bounty in a fashion calculated to bring votes. By 1827 he had emerged as the principal northern leader for Andrew Jackson. President Jackson rewarded Van Buren by appointing him Secretary of State. |
 |
Close this window |
| From the moment the Constitution was ratified, divisions among those in power arose and political factions developed. The two most prominent factions were the Federalists (with whom Washington and John Adams agreed) who advocated a strong central government, and the Democratic-Republicans who believed the states should hold the most power. George Washington, who had originally wanted to retire after his first presidential term, decided to run again in order to try to halt the rise of political parties. |
 |
Close this window |
| By the winter of 1848, whispers of a gold strike had drifted eastward across the country -- but few easterners believed. It was an age when rumors were discounted -- and government officials were revered. The gold discovery needed validation, and President James Polk delivered just that in early December, 1848: "The accounts of the abundance of gold in that territory are of such extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by authentic reports of officers in the public service." |
 |
Close this window |
| In 1861, Doctor Richard Gatling patented the Gatling Gun, a six-barreled weapon capable of firing a (then) phenomenal 200 rounds per minute. The Gatling gun was a hand-driven, crank-operated, multi-barrel, machine gun. The first machine gun with reliable loading, the Gatling gun had the ability to fire sustained multiple bursts. |  |
Close this window | |
| In 1869, Stillson came to the office with the pattern of a new type of pipe wrench, which he had whittled out of wood. Greene was interested and authorized Stillson to have a wrench made of steel, after his model. When next he appeared Colonel Green and C.C. Walworth examined the wrench and finally Stillson was directed to the pipe room, in the Devonshire Street shop, and was told to try the device on a section of 1 1/4 inch pipe. "I want you to put strength enough on that wrench," said Colonel Greene, "to twist off the pipe or break the wrench. I don't care which." |
Close this window |
| Because of the contrast between Grant's military achievements and his presidency, he is often ranked among White House failures. His final message to Congress, sometimes misread as an apology, instead presented a candid self-appraisal: "It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. Mistakes have been made, as all can see and I admit, but it seems to me oftener in the selections made... Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent." |
 |
Close this window |
| Stanley's last African expedition began in 1887 as a relief mission to aid Emin Pasha, the German-born governor of southern Sudan's Equatoria province. Emin Pasha, a convert to Islam, had been cut off from the outside world since the outbreak of a Muslim revolt six years earlier, in which the Sudanese revolted under the Mahdi against Egyptian rule. |
Close this window |
| Canada came quite early to the electric scene; its first electric automobile was constructed in Toronto in 1893 for patent attorney Frederick Featherstonhaugh. Designed by transplanted English electrician William Still, and built by carriage maker John Dixon, it was displayed at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition in 1893, and was used for many years by Mr. Featherstonhaugh as his personal transportation. |
Close this window |
| The product's name is derived from chicle (Nahuatl tziktli), the substance from which chewing gum was traditionally made. The original flavor was peppermint but many flavors have been added and discontinued over the decades since the introduction in 1906. |  |
Close this window | |
| The State Department proceeded to interrogate Einstein at the US Consulate in Berlin about his
political views. According to an Associated Press report at the time: "Professor Einstein’s patience broke. His
usual genial face stern and his normally melodious voice strident, he cried: ‘What’s this, an inquisition? Is this
an attempt at chicanery? I don’t propose to answer such silly questions. I didn’t ask to go to America. Your
countrymen invited me; yes, begged me. If I am to enter your country as a suspect, I don’t want to go at all. If
you don’t want to give me a visa, please say so. Then I’ll know where I stand.’" Within hours of the press being notified of this incident, the State Department announced that a visa for Einstein and his wife would be issued the next day. |
 |
Close this window |
| Prohibition of alcohol was seen as an affront to personal liberty, pushed on the nation by religious moralists. Alcohol was also seen as a source of revenue for the local and national governments. The effort to elect "wet" legislators was as grand as that to elect "dry" ones almost two decades earlier. The Congress passed the amendment on February 20, 1933 (288 days). It mandated, for the first time, that conventions of the states were to vote on the amendment, rather than the legislatures, feeling that conventions would be more apt to vote to ratify - and they did, quickly - the ratification process was complete on December 5, 1933. |
Close this window |
| Dr. William F. Gericke grew vegetables hydroponically, including root crops, such as beets, radishes, carrots, potatoes, and cereal crops, fruits, ornamentals and flowers. Using water culture in large tanks in his laboratory at the University of California, he succeeded in growing tomatoes to heights of 25 feet. |
Close this window |
| Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakhstan SSR & Kirghiz SSR becomes constituent republics of the Soviet Union. From 1922 to 1936 they were part of the Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic. |
Close this window |
| Crosby made his solo radio debut over CBS on September 2, 1931. By 1936, Crosby had become a major recording star and the host of NBC’s Kraft Music Hall, a weekly showcase for his casual manner, self-deprecating humor and mellifluous singing voice. Jimmy Dorsey (who would later be host, himself) led the Kraft Orchestra. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is the organization responsible for naming college football's All-American team, and since 1954 has also been a major selector of the national championship, presenting the Grantland Rice Award to the honored team. The organization also selects the freshman All-America team, Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner, Outland Trophy winner, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, and weekly defensive player of the week, as well as developing scholarship programs and surveys for better working conditions. |
Close this window |
| On Dec. 5th, Task Force 12 sailed from Pearl. Eighteen light gray Vought SB2U-3 Vindicators from CMSB-231, under 41-year old Major Clarence J. "Buddy" Chappell, then made the 1.7-hour flight from Ewa and landed on board Lexington, along with the "Lady Lex" air group. Planes recovered, the force set course for Midway. The Lexington departed Pearl Harbor on the morning of 5 December. |
 |
Close this window |
| During World War II, the Steelers experienced player shortages. They twice merged with other NFL franchises in order to field a team. During the 1943 season, they merged with the Philadelphia Eagles forming the "Phil-Pitt Eagles" and were known as the "Steagles". This team went 5-4-1. |
Close this window |
| On this day an entire squadron of US Navy torpedo bombers out on a training mission utterly vanished from the face of the earth. Flight 19 broke every failsafe. Instead of making land, the broken and strained dialogue faded with the flight leader unsure of what course they were flying anymore. The flight then receded into mystery. There were no witnesses to Flight 19 after this moment until I was able to establish that they were spotted three times over land long after their radios fell silent. Yet still they vanished. |
 |
Close this window |
| Despite losing 38-28 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Charlie Conerly set a new record for completions in game with 36 out of 53 attempts for 363 yards. The Steelers scored on a TD by Gonzales Morales, a 36 yard return of a fumble. The Steelerss George Papach gained 148 yds. rushing on 17 attempts. |  |
Close this window | |
| Walcott, considered an excellent boxer and slick defensive fighter, challenged Joe Louis for the title in December of 1947 at Madison Square Garden. He dropped the champion twice but lost a 15-round split decision to "The Brown Bomber." The very next year, Louis defeated him again, knocking Walcott out in 11 rounds. When Louis retired, Walcott and Ezzard Charles met for the vacant NBA heavyweight title in 1949 with Charles emerging victorious via 15-round decision. |
 |
Close this window |
| The program opened each week with these words from Det. Sgt. Joe Friday: "This is the city, Los Angeles, California. I work here, I carry a badge." Then that arresting theme music began to play ("Dum-de-dum-dum"). Probably the most successful police drama in television history. Dragnet's hallmark was its appearance of realism, from the documentary-style narration by Joe Friday, to the cases drawn from the files of the real L.A.P.D., |  |
Close this window | |
| During the day of 5th December the fog was not particularly dense, it possessed a dry smoky
character, however when nightfall came the fog thickened and visibility dropped to a few metres. In central London
the visibility remained below 500 meters continuously for 114 hours and below 50 meters continuously for 48 hours.
At Heathrow airport visibility remained below 10 for almost 48 hours from the morning of December 6. Road, rail and air transport were brought to a standstill. Theatres had to be suspended when fog in the auditorium made conditions intolerable. But, most importantly the smoke laden fog that shrouded the capital brought the premature death of an estimated 12,000 people and illness to many others. This "pea soup" smog stayed stewing away for five days from the 5 to the 10 December as more and more pollution entered it before winds from the west blew it down the Thames Estuary and out into the North sea. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Abbott And Costello Show ran from 1952-1953 and remains one of the most successful comedy series ever aired on television, pioneering the use of ensemble sketch comedy culled from the pair's vaudevillian roots. All of Abbott and Costellos classic routines such as 'Whos on first' can be found in this show. This program captures the two when they were at their peak of their comedic poweress. The cast include Mr.Field, Mike the Cop, Stinky, Bacciagalupe and Hillary. These shows stand today as perhaps the finest surviving representation of the art of burlesque comedy. |
 |
Close this window |
| Alan Freed, the famed DJ known as "the King of Rock 'n' Roll," stars in one of the first rock 'n' roll movies. "Rock, Rock, Rock!" captures all the excitement and energy of rock's early days with classic performances by Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, LaVern Baker, The Moonglows, The Flamingos and other rock 'n' roll pioneers in this music filled movie. Tuesday Weld (with Connie Francis' voice dubbed for the songs) makes her film debut as Dori, a teenager who's left in desperate straits after her father closes her charge account. |
 |
Close this window |
| Elected secretary-treasurer of the AFL in 1939, he held that post until his elevation to the presidency upon the death of William Green (1952). When the AFL and the CIO merged in 1955, Meany was elected head of the new federation and was reelected after that without opposition. Angered by reforms in the Democratic party in 1972, Meany was influential in leading the traditionally Democratic AFL-CIO into a neutral stance, supporting neither one of the major candidates in the presidential election. Many observers agreed that this was a significant element in President Nixon's landslide victory. |
 |
Close this window |
| On the morning of Dec. 5, the African-American residents of the city refused to use the buses. Most walked, those few with cars arranged rides for friends and strangers, some even rode mules. Only a very small number of African-Americans rode the bus that day. Dr. King and the other African-American community leaders held another meeting to organize future action. They named their organization the Montgomery Improvement Association and elected Dr. King as its president. As the boycott continued the white community fought back with terrorism and harassment. The car-pool drivers were arrested for picking up hitchhikers. African-Americans waiting on street corners for a ride were arrested for loitering. |
 |
Close this window |
| The light melody can make this feel like an upbeat song, but it contrasts sharply with the lyrics, which are about a murderer. Darin took a chance when he recorded this. His previous hits like "Splish Splash" and "Dream Lover" were aimed at a teenage audience, and this song had very dark subject matter. Darin's management didn't want him to record this, but he ignored their advice and it paid off: it introduced him to a wide audience of adult listeners. |  |
Close this window | |
| One of the biggest Broadway hits of the late-60's, "I Do! I Do!" featured tour-de-force turns from stage veterans Mary Martin and Robert Preston. Based on Jan de Hartog's "The Fourposter" (which originally starred husband-and-wife team Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy), the score was written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. The story follows a married couple from the wedding to retirement, and is a total delight. |
Close this window |
| The Cup was stolen twice from Hockey Hall of Fame in the late 1960s. (On December 5, 1970, Burglars stole the Cup along with the Conn Smythe trophy and the Bill Masterston Memorial Trophy.) Police would recover the trophies each time. One thief threatened to throw the Cup into Lake Ontario unless the charges were dropped. |  |
Close this window | |
| Six days after Ron Santo becomes the first player to use the 10 and 5 rule to veto a trade to the California Angels, the Cubs and Santo agree to trade him to the White Sox. For Ron Santo, the Cubs received Steve Stone, Ken Frailing, Steve Swisher and Jim Kremmel. . He signed a two-year deal with the cross-town rivals but dead pull hitter Bill Melton already occupied third base so Santo divided his time between second base and the new designated hitter position. After hitting only 5 home runs in 117 games and posting a .221 average, he decided to retire. |
 |
Close this window |
| Wings were basically stuck inside those four studio walls in Nigeria. It forced them to finish what they started, and the resulting record finally sounded like the polished studio product that everyone knew Paul capable of. Many have likened it to The Beatles, and it’s true that Band On The Run is Paul’s best record since leaving that band, but comparing this to Abbey Road or the white album isn’t particularly helpful. However, it is worth noting that the stinging guitar work of Denny Laine sounds so much like George Harrison in spots that it’s almost like George never left. "No Words" and "Mrs Vanderbilt" even sound like George Harrison songs. |
 |
Close this window |
| The World Football League was an American football league that played in 1974 and part of 1975. Although this pro grid circuit's true ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the WFL reached was placing a team - the Hawaiians - in Honolulu, Hawaii. |
Close this window |
| In 1969, five overeducated British comics and an American illustrator invaded the homes of unsuspecting BBC viewers with a brand of comedy that was, at the very least, odd. "Absurd," "bizarre," and "incomprehensible" are other descriptions that jump to mind. Nonetheless, this wacky sextet inaugurated an absurd tradition that continued through three and a half seasons of half-hour TV episodes, a series of live performances, a handful of movies, and a legacy of dead parrots and upper-class twits. |
 |
Close this window |
| The Seahawks joined the NFL in 1976 when the league granted an expansion team franchise to John Nordstrom, a Seattle department store owner. In the club’s first season, quarterback Jim Zorn passed for more than 2,500 yards and was named the league’s top offensive rookie. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Pioneer Venus Orbiter was inserted into an elliptical orbit around Venus on December 4, 1978. The Orbiter was a flat cylinder 2.5 m in diameter and 1.2 m high. All instruments and spacecraft subsystems were mounted on the forward end of the cylinder, except the magnetometer, which was at the end of a 4.7-m boom. A solar array extended around the circumference of the cylinder. A 1.09-m despun dish antenna provided S and X band communication with Earth, sending back data and pictures of the planet. |
 |
Close this window |
| Free-agent Rose signs a four-year, $3.2 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, temporarily making him the highest-paid athlete in team sports. |  |
Close this window | |
| Aerobics was just gaining popularity when this came out. It became a theme song for the exercise. "Physical" was #1 in the US for 10 weeks. The only song to that point that stayed at #1 longer was Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog." A few radio stations in conservative communities (including Salt Lake City, Utah) banned this for it's veiled sexual content. This just added to the song's popularity and didn't hurt Olivia's reputation as one of the least offensive women in music. |
 |
Close this window |
| Mel Gray was a Wide Receiver for the St.Louis Cardinals from 1971-1982. By the time he finished his career with the Cardinals in 1982, Gray's production placed him among the leaders on the club's all-time receiving list with 351 receptions (third) for 6,644 yards (second) with 45 touchdowns (second) and an impressive 18.9-yard career average-per-catch. In addition, he departed the NFL with a streak of 121 consecutive games catching a pass, at the time second in league history to 127 games by Harold Carmichael. |
Close this window |
| This was written by San Francisco songwriter Rick Nowels and New York-based Ellen Shipley. It features Michelle Phillips from the Mamas & The Papas and prolific hit songwriter Diane Warren on backing vocals. Nowels and Shipley also sang backup. |
Close this window |
| Atlantis made her first flight in October 1985, conducting classified military activities, one of five such flights. In 1989, Atlantis deployed two planetary probes, Magellan and Galileo, and in 1991, she deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. |  |
Close this window | |
| Indian-born British writer forced into hiding when his novel "The Satanic Verses" (1988) led the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini to demand his execution. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s was a wave of savings and loan association failures in the United States, caused by rising interest rates, fluctuation in real estate values, deregulation, lack of regulatory oversight, mismanagement, failed speculation, and, in some cases, fraud. Over 1,000 savings and loan institutions failed. In September 1990, Keating was criminally charged with having duped Lincoln's customers into buying worthless junk bonds of American Continental Corporation; he was convicted in state court in 1992 of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy and received a 10 year prison sentence. In January 1993, a federal conviction followed, with a 12 and a half year sentence. He spent four and a half years in prison, but both sentences were eventually overturned. |
 |
Close this window |
| Ice Cube began his career as a member of the controversial rap group N.W.A, and later launched a successful solo career in music and cinema. In recent years, Ice Cube's acting career has taken center stage in his life, and he has taken much time off from rapping. |  |
Close this window | |
| The mission is the result of a tiny mistake in the manufacture of the $1.55 billion telescope, which made the mirror flatter than it should be by just one-fiftieth of the width of a human hair. The telescope, designed to see further into deep space than ever before, was only able to send back out-of-focus images no better than could be seen from Earth. The main task for the seven-strong crew of astronauts was to repair the mirror by adding a lens similar to a contact lens which would correct the focus. |
 |
Close this window |
| "I'm Your Angel" is a duet by R. Kelly and Celine Dion. It spent 6 weeks at number one in the United States from December 5, 1998 to January 9, 1999. Its debut on the Hot 100 is one of the most bizarre events in music history, and chart historians still disagree on whether give the song merit as debuting on the chart at number 1 or counting its chart test run. |
Close this window |
| "It seems to me they can't be trusted," Sen. John McCain said of Major League Baseball. Speaking Sunday morning on ABC's "This Week," McCain said lawmakers "ought to seriously consider ... a law that says all professional sports have a minimum level of performance-enhancing drug testing." |  |
Close this window | |
 |
|||
1766 London auctioneers Christie's hold their
first sale
More ...
1776 Phi Beta Kappa, first American scholastic
fraternity founded
More ...
1782 The first native born U.S. president, Martin
Van Buren
More ...
1792 George Washington re-elected US President, John Adams Vice-President
More ...
1831 Former President John Quincy Adams takes
his seat as member of House of Representatives
1846 C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose
nitrate explosive
1848 President Polk triggers Gold Rush of '49,
confirms California gold discovery
More ...
1854 Aaron Allen of Boston patents folding theater
chair
1861 Gatling gun patented
More ...
1876 Daniel Stillson (Massachusetts) patents first
practical pipe wrench
More ...
1876 President Ulysses S. Grant delivered a speech
of apology to Congress
More ...
1887 Stanley's expedition reaches plateau at Lake
Albert Congo
More ...
1893 First electric car (built in Toronto) could
go 15 miles between charges
More ...
1905 Chiclets - gum was trademark registered
More ...
1908 First football uniform numerals used (University
of Pittsburgh)
1932 German physicist Albert Einstein granted
a visa
More ...
1933 21st Amendment ratified
More ...
1935 First commercial hydroponics operation established
(Montebello, CA)
More ...
1936 Transcaucasian Federative Soviet
Socialist Republics join USSR
More ...
1936 Bing Crosby took over as host of "The
Kraft Music Hall"
More ...
1941 Football Writers Association of America organized
More ...
1941 US aircraft carrier Lexington/5 heavy cruisers
leave Pearl Harbor
More ...
1943 NFL Philadelphia Eagle-Pittsburgh Steeler
merger dissolves
More ...
1945 "Lost Squadron" crashes east of
Florida (Bermuda Triangle)
More ...
1948 New York Giant Charley Conerly sets NFL record
of 36 pass completions
More ...
1949 Ezzard Charles defeats Jersey Joe Walcott
for heavyweight boxing title
More ...
1951 "Dragnet" premieres
More ...
1951 The first push button-controlled garage opened
in Washington, DC.
1952 London smog of 1952 - worst smog in London
ever, 4,000+ die
More ...
1952 "The Abbott and Costello Show"
started a 52-episode, syndicated run on TV
More ...
1955 Disc-Jockey Alan Freed's movie "Rock
Rock Rock" opened to packed theatres in NYC
More ...
1955 AFL & CIO merge, with George Meany as
president
More ...
1955 Historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery
AL by Rosa Parks
More ...
1958 Phils drop plans for New York sportcast as
Yankees threaten to do the same in Philadelphia
1959 "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin
topped the charts.
More ...
1964 "Ringo" by Lorne Greene topped
the charts
1966 "I Do! I Do!" opens at 46th St
Theater NYC for 561 performances
More ...
1970 Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe Trophy & Bill
Masterson trophy stolen from NHL Hall Of Fame
More ...
1970 Los Angeles Rams Willie Ellison sets NFL
record of 247 yards rushing
1973 Cubs' Ron Santo became first baseball player
to veto his trade
More ...
1973 Paul McCartney releases "Band on the
Run" album
More ...
1974 First World Football League Bowl, Birmingham
Americans beat Florida
More ...
1974 "Monty Python's Flying Circus"
final episode airs on BBC
More ...
1974 NFL's Seattle Seahawks forms
More ...
1978 The American space probe Pioneer Venus 1,
orbits Venus
More ...
1978 Free agent Pete Rose signs 4-year, $32 million
contract with Phillies
More ...
1981 "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John
topped the charts
More ...
1982 Mel Gray ends NFL streak of 121 consecutive
game receptions
More ...
1983 The first video arcade game licensed by the
National Football League was unveiled in Chicago. Bally Manufacturing named
it, appropriately enough, "NFL Football"
1987 "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" by
Brenda Carlisle topped the charts
More ...
1988 Shuttle Atlantis launches world's first nuclear-war-fighting
satellite
More ...
1990 Salman Rushdie, author appears in public
for first time in 2 years
More ...
1991 Charles Keating Jr (Lincoln Savings &
Loan fraud), found guilty
More ...
1991 New York Daily News files for protection
under chapter 11
1992 Ice Cube's "The Predator"
became the #1 album in the U.S.
More ...
1993 Astronauts begin repair of Hubble telescope
in space
More ...
1998 "I'm Your Angel" by R. Kelly &
Celine Dion topped the charts
More ...
2004 Senator McCain demands more effective drug
testing in baseball
More ...